Thursday, April 10, 2008

The NYT article on the just-released Global Inforamtion Technology Report done on behalf of the World Economic Forum begins this way:

"Contradicting earlier studies, conventional wisdom and politicians’ rhetoric, European researchers say that the Internet infrastructure of the United States is one of the world’s best and getting better."

I would not put too much stock in any one study, but this one, which employed 68 variables including market factors, political and regulatory environment, and technology infrastructure, is a useful antidote to uncritical acceptance of the OECD reports that are always trumpeted by those in the "talking broadband down" crowd. The TBD crowd is always looking for opportunities to propose more regulation for the Internet.

This study indicating that the US Internet infrastructure is healthy and getting better ought to be a warning to US policymakers not to heed the siren call of public utility regulation of broadband Internet providers in the guise of net neutrality mandates.